


The Truth In Our Dreams

by Andian



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Dark, M/M, Psychological Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-31
Updated: 2014-01-31
Packaged: 2018-01-10 17:04:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1162290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Andian/pseuds/Andian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Weird dreams were haunting Cecil. Even weirder than the usual dreams every citizen of Night Vale has. Weird and strangely concerning dreams.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Truth In Our Dreams

“... help … Cecil.“  
Carlos' voice was quiet and hushed as if coming from a distance far away. He tried to concentrate but it slipped away from him, wavering and unreal, the echo of a echo.  
“Promised, Ceci...” It felt completely silent. Cecil floated in the air, staring at the dark abyss under him that was very distinctively and pointedly filled with nothing and wished he had his glasses.  
“Hello?” His voice did not act like it normally would. In fact it just seem to suddenly stop and then echo back to him after a few seconds of silence, becoming more and more distorted in the process until it almost sounded like somebody else was speaking.  
Hello, ello, llo, low, low,  
“Is there anybody?”  
Anybody, nybody, nobody, nobody.  
Cecil hesitated. This was different from all the other times he had dreamed about the dark abyss, very distinctively and pointedly filled with nothing.  
“Are you fiend or friend?” he asked carefully.  
Friend, riend, iend, end, end,  
“Is this by any possible means a dream about the end of times? Cause I have to let you know that that those were forbidden by the Sheriff's Secret Police.”  
Forbidden, orbidden, rbidden, bidden, bidden.  
“Now,” Cecil said loudly. “While do not want to appear impolite I would rather like to wake up. I thought I'd share a dream with Carlos.”  
Carlos, arlos, rlos, los, lost,  
He felt his hearbeat quicken.  
“What?”  
What, hat, at, t,  
“What did you say about Carlos?”  
Carlos, arlos, rlos, lost, lost, lost, lost,  
“Stop it.” he said. “Stop that immediately.”  
Ately, tely, tely, telly.  
“Telly is here too?! Listen, you seem like a nice guy as far as I can tell, but I really need to wake up right now.”  
Now, no, no. No.  
“Oh, it's always like that. You wake up floating over an abyss and your own echo starts talking to you and suddenly you're not allowed to make your own decisions anymore. Listen this is the 21th Century, we're not doing this anymore.”  
Anymore, nymore, ymore, more, more.  
“What more?”  
More, ore, re, e  
“With all due respect, but for the current situation this is hardly helpful.”  
Helpful, helpfu, helpf, help, help.  
“Help what?!  
Carlos, arlos, rlos, lost, lost.  
And suddenly Cecil woke up.

“Listeners, I had the weirdest dream last night. I'm sure all of you are familiar with that black abyss that sometimes appears? You know the one that is very distinctively and pointedly filled with nothing? Anyway, last night it had started talking to me! Now, I know what most of you are thinking. “Well Cecil, that is nothing new, we all had hear the voices of our past and futures self screaming at us from the abyss”, but listeners, this time it was not me speaking. Well, actually it sort of was but it was speaking in way that was very much not me. It's kind of hard to explain. Well, the voice told me that Carlos, my Carlos, had been lost! Now, since I am a grown up man who is not frightened of the vague prophetic voices in his own dreams I did not call immediately after waking up. However since he is, you know, my boyfriend after all I did check up on him when driving to work and listeners I have to say I was relieved when I saw him. Relieved and strangely … concerned. We made plans to meet for dinner tonight though, so I hope that this feeling, like everything else, will soon too pass.”

“You're acting weird Cecil.” Carlos said over his slice of pizza. He then quickly added. “I mean not weird, weird but rather you know weird not-like-you weird.” “I had a dream last night.” Cecil said, forcing himself to pick up his own slice of pizza. He had not been very hungry the whole day, sometimes that was weird since he usually tended to stuff himself with snacks before and after his show. “Oh, was it the one where you had three eyes again. Strictly scientifically speaking it would be...” “No, not that one.” Cecil interrupted him slightly irritated and then he flinched because he never interrupted people. “I'm sorry.” he said. Carlos looked at him confused. “What for?” Cecil sighed. “I don't think I'm good company tonight.” Absentmindedly he started toying with the sleeve of his shirt again, griping it hard before releasing it. “It's okay. You want to go home? We could watch a movie.” “No, I mean I'd really like to but I … I'll go home and get some sleep.” he smiled weakly at Carlos, the feeling of foreboding concern that had been nagging at the back of his mind all day suddenly returning with full force. “I will see you tomorrow.”

He dreamed again that night. But instead of the abyss it was the Forest this time. “Hello Cecil.” it whispered. “We like what you did with your hair.” Wearily Cecil looked around. While it was not a good idea at all to enter the Whispering forest, he supposed that he should be safe in his own dreams. Slowly he sat down. “Thank you.” he said. “I really like your leaves.” The tree he had been talking though moved softly in the wind, appearing to be flustered. “Oh, we did not have time to really fix them after the last storm. They must be a mess.” “No, no.” Cecil quickly said. “They are really nice. I especially like the,” he stopped. “Color.” he then finished, staring up at the tree in front of him.  
Some of the leaves were red. Others were green. And the red one spelled a message.  
H E L P  
The feeling of concern came back.  
H E L P  
Cecil jumped up.  
“What do you want?”  
H E L P  
“What do you want?!”  
H E L P 

“And then the earth starting shaking violently and all the leaves felt off. I awoke in my bed, a single red leave clenched in my hand. It was pretty weird, listeners. If anybody knows about any prophetic dreams containing leaves please contact us. Our new intern will note your number.”

“You should stop talking so much about your dreams on the radio, Cecil.” Carlos said. Cecil's spoon, filled with ice-cream froze on the way to his mouth. “Why?” he asked, carefully, not lowering the spoon. Had he felt no hunger at all the day before he seemed to not get enough today. It was the third bowl of ice-cream he had eaten and he still could feel his stomach growling. “It's kind of … weird.” Carlos said, slowly drinking his coffee and Cecil felt something big and squishy moving in his stomach. “I will... I'll stop it.” he said.

He dreamed about falling this night. There were dreams where he woke up before he hit the ground but this was the kind of dream where there was no ground.  
Just falling.  
He closed his eyes and cried. 

“Listeners I apologize for the misinformation we will … we will have to make a, a correction. The Open-Day of the City sewers will be this Satur- I mean Sunday, no wait, it was Monday at three, or four, o' clock.”

“You don't look well.” Carlos observed. Cecil stared blankly at the ceiling. “I'm hungry.” he then mumbled. “I brought you some sandwiches.” Carlos said sympathetically. “Thank you.” Cecil didn't look at him. There was a spot that looked like a cat. He suddenly remembered that he hadn't checked up on Koshak for three days. “You should really eat Cecil.” There was … something in Carlos voice Cecil didn't wanted to hear. “I'm not hungry.” Cecil said. “You said you were hungry just ten seconds ago.” “I'm not hungry anymore.” he finally managed to tear himself away from the cat spot, that actually looked more like a dead raccoon. “I'm dreaming.” Cecil mumbled, staring at Carlos who was watching him con... carefully. “I'm dreaming. And I wish I could wake up.” He noticed that he was shaking. “Shuh, it's okay Cecil.” Carlos took his hand. “It's okay.”

He dreamed about nothing that night. Nothing, and it was laughing at him.

“You didn't go to work today Cecil.” Slowly Cecil shook his head. “What's the point.” he whispered softly. “What's the point.” he reached for Carlos. “You're staying right?” he mumbled, pulling him into a tight hug. “I will Cecil.” Carlos said, huging him back “Promised.” Something stung and he suddenly he was tired. So tired. “'m scared.” he slurred. “So scared.” He could see Carlos smiling at him as he fell asleep.

It was a white room. People were talking. He could see Carlos and he tried to reach for him but his hands were fixated. “Status?” “New medication caused alarming development during REM-sleep.” Carlos said. “Subject's wish to follow daily routine fading. Shows clear sigh of emotional distress, change in eating behavior.“ „Did the subject still recognize you?“ „Yes.“ Carlos said. „Suggestions?“ „While the Subject is more compatible during tests, the potential health hazards are too big. I suggest switching back the old medication.” Carlos said. “Not that it matters much. He is a lost case anyway.”  
Carlos turned toward him and Cecil tried to smile at him. It didn't work. His body felt weird. Squishy. Squishy and soft and not quite there.  
“I didn't meant it.” Carlos leaned down to him.  
“I just said it so they would leave you alone.” He fumbled around with Cecil arms.  
“I don't think you're a lost case.” Briefly, piercing pain quickly followed by nothing.  
“I'll help you Cecil.”  
Carlos' voice was quiet and hushed as if coming from a distance far away. He tried to concentrate but it slipped away from him, wavering and unreal, the echo of a echo.  
“Promised Ceci....”  
It felt completely silent.

When Cecil woke up the next morning he couldn't remember his dream.


End file.
